This week's trip is to Makanda, Ill., and the nearby Giant City State Park.

Makanda has a number of unusual shops, and you certainly will want to stop and do some browsing and perhaps some buying. One of the shops there sells ice cream cones, so you may want to have a cool treat.

When you are finished there, continue on up the road and into Giant City State Park. There is a very good possibility that you will see deer there. They also have a riding stable, where you can rent a horse and take a ride.

Giant City State Park tells a geological tale 315 million years old. The rectangular joint pattern of the area's Pennsylvanian bedrock, called pounds sandstone, is the basis for the park's unusual rock formations, which to early settlers reportedly looked like the streets of a "giant city." There are rock formations there that you can climb up on and see a long ways, but be very careful -- many of them are so high that a fall could be a disaster. Giant City is a great place for a picnic, so pack a lunch and enjoy the day.

To get there, go across the Mississippi River bridge and go four miles to Route 146, take a left and go north about 12 miles to Ware, Ill., turn right there and proceed through Anna. On the other side of Anna, you turn left onto Highway 51. Go north and look for the large yellow water tower with the smiley face on it. You will see signs for the turn to Makanda. After you make the turn, it is just three or four miles to Makanda.

Send your suggestions or ideas to Bill Coomer at P.O. Box 699; Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63702-0699 or e-mail him at bcoomer@semissourian.com.